Defender 200TDI Project. Luke662

I've been picturing the Land rover since I got it so I could keep a track of all of the bits and pieces I do to it.
I'll post them in here so people can see how, what and why i did whatever i get up to.

Pictures to follow...

The wheels it came with were pretty old and i wasnt over keen ont he grip they provided so i swapped those to a set i picked up off my mate who wanted alloys on his. I prefer steels...

the doors are a mess and need replacing to be honest. I've patched up the rear to a safe level. The pics dont show it but i have since fitted sound deadening to the rear door and plan to expandy foam fill it and put a flat sheet of acrilic over it on the inside.
The outside will get either ally sheet or check sheet depending on what i can find kncoing about.

The seats i have swapped out for a set from a Toyota Yaris. They are much comfier and as luck would have it were an almost direct fit. I just cut some locating pins off and had a mate weld some bars to the bottom to allow me to bolt them down. I used all existing holes. They sit about an inch higher than standard which means my head is a little close to the lining but not dangerously so. no bobble hats for me though.

The headlining of the whole truck was rank. I pulled it all out, dried it, ripped off all the vinyl and used a combo of mastic paint and driveway bitumen paint. to re-seal it all which also stiffened it back up.
To finish it i used some truck bed paint which gives a nice matt finish with a slightly rough texture. I'm still in the process of fitting it but it looks much nicer than it did before. I'll chcuck some pics of that later.

here a picture of the seats I fitted. They still slide back and forth and recline both ways. (the yaris was a 3 door)

Over the weekend i continued to try and get the dash out and take apart the front left of the car.
So much rust. so much filler...
I'm in the process of removing the heater matrix and such. I want to use the space for other things. the car is currently covered with gaffa tape where any holes have been made or found.

What state are the footwells? Given the amount of rust showing I'd give the bulkhead and chassis a good inspection. Good luck with the project.

John S said:

What state are the footwells? Given the amount of rust showing I'd give the bulkhead and chassis a good inspection. Good luck with the project.

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The foot wells are all good. They have been re-plated at some point.
Admittedly I was done when I bought the car. The previous owner pasted body filler all over the bulk head and then painted it. So it looks all good up top. the foot wells having been changed I thought “ah cool it’s all been sorted.”
It's only when i took the dash off i could see the rust from behind the bulkhead. I have since pushed and picked all the crap out of it. Lesson learned.

That's a bummer but fixable. You can source the whole top section of the bulkhead. You expect them to rot from bottom up. It could just be the way its been looked after. I'd change the windscreen seal when you have the bulkhead sorted could have been partly a leaking seal letting water in the top.

Thanks John that's a good shout on the seal.

The other day I bypassed the heater matrix system by swapping some pipes about. I wanted to see if it had any sort of detriment to cooling before I ripped it all out. I've torn it round a farm solid for about 45 mins with no issue but also used it as a daily driver commuiting into work. I've noticed it's getting up to temp a minute or two quicker but remains at the same temp regardless of what I'm doing. I've bought a little heater blower thing off ebay to fix to the roof lining so if it frosts over I can clear it. No good for passenger warmth but then again neither was the stock system...

Sounds like fun,

What are you planning for it? As you have removed the heating is it only going to be a toy?

Cheers

It's my daily driver so nothing extreme. I need to keep it usable on the roads.
Theres a few reasons for shifting the battery to where the heating is.

My battery storage under passenger seat is rotting with rust. I plan to do away with the whole under seat section and put a combo of ally and steel plates there. This will raise ground clearance on that side of the car and save me a bucket of money in parts and repair for something I don't need.

By moving the battery to the front I can reduce the cable lengths quite a bit and in some cases strip the loom of quite a bit. This will make me happier as I hate cables (less is more).
It will make relocating the fuse box/panel a bit easier also and allow my to fit kill switches for security and such a little easier.

I joined a few fb groups to get a bit of advice on some bits but people just rant about what a naff idea it is and answer my questions with nothing to do with what I asked. Hence I joined here, you boys seems to help each other even if it is a "bad idea"

At the end of the day it's your car, But it is a strange idea ! I take it you are planning to keep it until its scrap ? because your plans will seriously damage its resale value.
Good luck with your project

Aye, wot he says ^^^^. Post some piccies up - or perhaps start a dedicated thread in the members vehicles bit.... will be interesting to see how you get on.

Deffo interesting and out of the box idea. But it is your vehicle so go for it, it is not something that directly affects safety so who is anyone else to say it is a crap idea. If you decide to change it back it is a Landy so no great hardship.

Looking at mine I always find the fuel tank is more at risk, are you going to reinforce it? or is it also in the plans to move it?

Put a write up in the vehicle / projects section will be interesting to watch it change and progress.

Cheers

So got the heating out, changed the wind screen wash tank. Made a little bracket up for it out of some ally sheet. Other tank had duff pump so another was put in line so was horrible. Pretty chuffed with it.

where have all my posts gone?

Luke662 said:

where have all my posts gone?

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They're in the 'Introduce Yourself' section, just where you left them...

Might be better if they were moved to this section and thread though. I shall appeal to the master. @blue beasty

Posts moved in 'ere